Colorado Avalanche / NHL

Colorado Avalanche is not trying to trade center Ryan O'Reilly

Avalanche center Ryan O'Reilly has an offer on the table for $7 million over two years. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

While differences remain in negotiations between young center Ryan O'Reilly and the Avalanche on a new contract, the two sides still are talking. The Avs are not attempting to trade him at this time, according to two NHL sources.

O'Reilly's latest offer from the Avs is the same Matt Duchene signed with the team last summer: two years, $7 million, the sources said. O'Reilly turned down a five-year, $17 million offer last summer.

O'Reilly is looking for more in the neighborhood of $5 million per year. Both the Avalanche and O'Reilly's agent, Mark Guy, had no public comment on the negotiations Tuesday, though Guy confirmed the sides still are talking.

Despite the gulf in salary desires, the Avs are not consider trading O'Reilly, who is considered one of the better young two-way centers in the NHL and a building block of the team's future. O'Reilly, 21, is playing for a team in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League.

The O'Reilly camp believes he should be paid on a level comparable to some other young NHL forwards who signed richer deals recently, such as Boston's David Krejci ($5.25 million cap hit) and Winnipeg's Evander Kane ($5.25 million).

But O'Reilly's toughest "comparable" may be that of teammate Duchene, who signed a two-year, $7 million contract over the summer. Duchene, who will turn 22 on Wednesday, was drafted the same year as O'Reilly (2009) and put up significantly more points than O'Reilly in his first two seasons in the league (132-52).

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But O'Reilly, 21, led the Avs in scoring last season, with 18 goals and 55 points, in 81 games.

He also is considered one of the league's better defensive centers. His 101 takeaways led all NHL players last season. He led the Avs in faceoff-winning percentage (52.8) and was third in shots on goal (189).

O'Reilly put up only 26 points in each of his first two seasons, but his breakout season of sorts in the third convinced the Avs to offer him the longest contract it has given a player since Paul Stastny signed a five-year deal in 2008. When O'Reilly rejected a five-year, $17 million offer, the Avs tried to sign him to what is considered in NHL lingo a "bridge contract" — a shorter deal at roughly the same cap hit as the longer-term deal. Several players at comparable ages and accomplishments around the league have signed such deals, such as Duchene and 21-year-old New York Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who signed a two-year, $5.1 million deal this week after posting 41 points in 77 games. Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux, considered by some as a top-five player in the league, signed a three-year bridge deal at $3.75 million per season.

The Avs, currently with a cap-averaged payroll of $54,058,333, can spend up to $70.2 million for this season, which begins Saturday in Minnesota.

Next season, however, the cap drops to $64.3 million, a number the Avs are mindful about and why they were careful to sign many of their potential unrestricted free agents last summer, including David Jones, Matt Hunwick, Shane O'Brien, Cody McLeod and Jean-Sebastien Giguere. They also signed other restricted free agents, such as Erik Johnson, Jamie McGinn, Steve Downie and Ryan Wilson, to deals that will extend past next season.

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